Scots_Al

I've never heard of this before - it's appalling!

Clearly the hotel is a cheap dump in the first place, but even still...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30100973

fischi

What an interesting case. I'm reminded of Monday's article in Slate on EULAs. I guess the hotel T&Cs are shorter than iTunes' 30 page agreement, but I would bet most people don't read them or just scan them - glasses or no.

paul4040

#858 of 894 in Blackpool... Blackpool!!

This place must be a dump.

USA_flyer

I think with that kind of rating you're better off sleeping on the beach.

deniah

while i dont condone the practice, with that kind of review distribution on the hotel, why did these people stay here in the first place?

i get that many on the page are 1st-time reviewers and went on to rant, but there were "senior reviewers" amongst them. did they not bother to check before booking?

caveat emptor

Milanogirl

Still, one should be able to review without having to pay a fine.

lattymong

I was aghast reading the reviews of this hotel. I'm wondering who has stayed at the hotels 859 and below. Sounds dreadful.

sxytxn

This is not the first time I've heard about hotels doing this. So if they can fine you for complaining, can you sue them for bad service?

CPRich

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mid-a...ng-guests.html

It generally isn't very effective
This Hotel's $500 Fine For Bad Reviews Is Backfiring Horribly

The policy has already been changed, I suspect that the couple will get their money back, and anyone looking to stay here in the future will likely see this story on top of any search.

Just a dumb business move. But they don't sound like the best-run business operation to start with.

mtdd

The Blackpool hotel in question is already being investigated by the Trading Standards authority for this. I would think they are likely to be sanctioned: their T&Cs are almost certainly an example of unfair trade.

dgreen12

The intertubes are reporting that the money has been refunded to the couple and the "hotel" (I use that term loosely) has changed their policy.

bhrubin

The only time we've ever been "fined" by a hotel because of a bad Tripadvisor review was in May 2010 after our honeymoon stay at Azura Benguerra Island in Mozambique.

We had negotiated a discounted rate due to low occupancy, and yet had so many problems (non-working air con, non-working lighting, non-existent wifi, horrible food, service issues galore, horribly improper wine storage, etc.) that the property agreed in writing before our departure to refund us a night off our stay.

After our return home, I wrote the candid Tripadvisor review...and then the property refused to process our refund because of the poor review. I contacted our travel agency, provided them with the written refund agreement, and told them that either the travel agency or Azura would have to refund our money within 48 hours or I would seek legal recourse and also post a second review with a copy of the written refund agreement and indicating that Azura was withholding our refund because of a bad review. Our refund was processed within a few hours.

Tripadvisor is both a powerful tool to help people choose properties and restaurants and a tool to force such vendors to abide by proper and legal practice. Only poor management and/or poor ownership are dumb enough to try and penalize someone for bad reviews instead of trying to improve quality. Obviously, there are fake reviews out there--but you rarely hear about a vendor penalizing people for those. It's always the genuine but bad reviews that vendors foolishly try to penalize, always to their own detriment in the end. KARMA. I've had tons of private messages from people who considered but didn't visit Azura because of our experience.

DanishFlyer

They were on the road and decided to stop for the night rather than continue. Some people don't have smartphones, so they might not have had an option to check beforehand.

DanishFlyer

KevinDTW

^ Great result, and good job standing your ground! If ever presented with a similar situation, however, I think I'd wait until the refund/credit is in my account before posting the TA review.

bhrubin

Indeed. They were supposed to have processed our refund before we arrived home; we hadn't realized they hadn't (shocking, right?) until after I posted the review. Then the drama ensued. I was tempted to still post a follow-up review to share what happened, and their recalcitrance, but I didn't want to seem too spiteful. :-)